Gun maker Remington gets Newtown lawsuit moved to federal court

Pat Eaton-robb, Associated Press

Published 7:54 am, Thursday, January 22, 2015

Photo: AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File

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In this Jan. 28, 2013 photo, firearms training unit Detective Barbara J. Mattson, of the Connecticut State Police, holds up a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, the same make and model of gun used by Adam Lanza in the Sandy Hook School shooting, for a demonstration during a hearing of a legislative subcommittee reviewing gun laws, at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn. The families of nine of the 26 people killed and a teacher injured on Dec. 14, 2012, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer, distributor and seller of the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle used by Lanza in the shooting. less

In this Jan. 28, 2013 photo, firearms training unit Detective Barbara J. Mattson, of the Connecticut State Police, holds up a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, the same make and model of gun used by Adam Lanza in the ... more

Photo: AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File

Gun maker Remington gets Newtown lawsuit moved to federal court

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Gun maker Remington has moved a lawsuit filed against it by families of those shot in the Sandy Hook school massacre from state to federal court, where at least one expert says it has less chance of succeeding.

Nine families sued Remington and others in Bridgeport Superior Court in December arguing the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle used in the shooting should not have been sold for civilian use because of its overwhelming firepower. A 10th family joined the lawsuit adding a wrongful death claim.

The case was placed before U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny last week after Remington argued that since they are located in North Carolina and not Connecticut, federal court was a more proper jurisdiction.

Timothy Lytton, a professor at the Albany Law School who has written extensively about suing the gun industry, said getting the case into the 2nd U.S. Circuit, of which Connecticut is a part, is a victory for the defendants.

“The 2nd Circuit has previously refused to hold gun manufacturers liable or permit lawsuits against gun manufacturers for injuries caused by third parties,” he said. “It has a history of knocking these types of cases down.”

A 2005 federal law shields gun manufacturers from most lawsuits over criminal use of their products, but it does include an exception for cases where companies should know a weapon is likely to be used in a way that risks injury to others.

That exception, known as “negligent entrustment” was designed for cases such as when a gun store sells to someone who is obviously intoxicated and threatening to kill someone, Lytton said.

The lawyers for the Newtown families are arguing that the Bushmaster is a military weapon that was negligently entrusted to civilians, who should not have been allowed to purchase it.

The plaintiffs in the case stemming from the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre include the families of Mary Sherlach, Vicki Soto, Dylan Hockley, Noah Pozner, Lauren Rousseau, Benjamin Wheeler, Jesse Lewis, Daniel Barden, Rachel D’Avino and a teacher, Natalie Hammond, who was injured and survived.

In addition to Remington Arms, which makes the rifle, the defendants are Camfour, a firearm distributor, and Riverview Gun Sales, the now-closed East Windsor store where the gunman’s mother purchased the Bushmaster rifle in 2010.